Different Roles

We live in a world that is rightly concerned about making things better. St Martin’s reflects this, with appointed officers to deal with health and safety and child protection.

But there’s a risk that we get so caught up in the processes that we forget the purpose. The formal requirements are so great that we can easily lose sight of why we’re doing it.

What’s worse, we have to follow the formal processes meticulously, because if anything does go wrong, officialdom looks at whether we did what they said we should, rather than whether we did the right thing.

I found I was wondering whether Jesus would have cleared a CRB check, or indeed whether any of the Apostles meet modern requirements for public figures. An iffy lot, those Christians: subversive, speaking out against the State, causing trouble making the poor and the immigrants.

Matthew records how the religious authorities tested Jesus, by asking him whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar: he replied by asking whose image was on the coins that people used to pay. He said they should render to Caesar what was his – and to God what belonged to him.

So, in making sure that we have had a costly administrative check done to ensure that leaders are “fit” to work with children, let’s not forget what it’s all about: we should look after the children – and our neighbours, the poor, refugees and migrants – as God would. Sometimes, that may involve breaking Caesar’s rules.

Just like Jesus did.